


Just One More

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst and Tragedy, Best Friends, Crying Ratchet, Forgiveness, Grief/Mourning, Heartbreak, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Trust, Spoilers for Episode: s02e26 Darkest Hour, What Have I Done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-17
Updated: 2014-05-17
Packaged: 2018-01-25 12:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1648793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: Before the ill-fated battle of Darkmount that ends in the Autobots' disbandment, Optimus must comfort an old friend who is distraught over the loss of the Omega Lock. In the process, he realizes he must admit a secret he's kept ever since his childhood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just One More

Optimus walked at the back of the group as they returned through the ground bridge one at a time. Something twisted in his spark when he saw Ratchet’s eager expression ebbing into confusion because of the containers which Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead were carrying.

“The children?!” Ratchet gasped. “What happened? Somebody say something!”

Bulkhead was the first to speak up and Optimus heard a vulnerability in his words that he hadn’t before from him. “Optimus destroyed the Omega Lock.”

The Prime watched sadly as Ratchet’s face contorted in horror. “What?! You did wha—”

“—what was necessary. There was no time for another prolonged battle, not with Earth in imminent danger,” Optimus cut in, praying that Ratchet would accept this answer. He knew his friend too well, however, and despite his prayers he knew that answer wasn’t going to satisfy Ratchet.

“So you destroyed the only device in _any_ universe capable of restoring our home? Optimus...” Ratchet choked out, his voice and frame reeling with a brokenness that only Optimus himself understood. “We _needed_ that.”

Optimus sighed inwardly as Smokescreen stepped forward. “You weren’t there, doc,” he snapped, jabbing a finger at Ratchet. “And it’s not your place to second-guess a battlefield decision.”

“It most certainly is!” Ratchet cried, throwing his arms around like he didn’t know what to do with himself. “There _had_ to be another way!”

“It wasn’t that simple, Ratchet,” Jack tried to explain.

“Megatron was using the Omega Ray to attack the Earth,” Raf added.

“Optimus saved our planet,” Miko declared.

“What about _our_ planet?!” Ratchet demanded in anguish. He looked desolate, ready to either smash everything in sight or burst into tears—perhaps both. “All of our struggles and energon spilled and countless sacrifices, _for nothing?!_ ”

“Right decision or wrong,” Arcee replied, her voice betraying her mutual feelings that she was trying hard to conceal, “what’s done is done. Now we have another problem here on this world. The Cons just changed the rules when they put Jack, Miko, and Raf into play.”

There was a long, tense silence and then, if it was possible, Ratchet’s shoulders sagged further. “Alright,” he whispered. “I’ll...”

“You’ll come with me,” Optimus said, his voice sterner than he meant it to be. Ratchet shuffled mutely toward him as though he were expecting to be struck down for his words. It broke Optimus’ spark, but he simply turned and gestured for his old friend to follow him down one of the halls.

They walked in silence and Optimus found it was the first silence in centuries that hadn’t been comfortable and affectionate between them. “Ratchet,” he prompted quietly, hoping his friend would vent his feelings instead of bundling them up—which, from the look on his face, was exactly what he was attempting.

The medic refused to answer and Optimus ventured again, “Please talk to me.” Cautiously he placed a hand on Ratchet’s shoulder, only for it to be smacked off just as quickly.

“Don’t touch me!” Ratchet shouted furiously. “I hate you!”

Optimus took a step back in disbelief, but Ratchet came after him, pounding his fists on his chest-plate but doing minimal damage because he was smaller in stature and half-blind in rage. “I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! How could you do this to me?! It was our only hope, our only way home and _you_ of all people took it away!”

Optimus opened his mouth, but Ratchet slammed his fists on his armor again with an especially loud clang to silence him. “No apology will _ever_ make up for what you’ve done! I’ll _never_ see Cybertron again and I’ll _never_ forgive you!”

“I know,” Optimus agreed even as he slipped his arms around Ratchet’s shoulders and pulled him close. Banging his head against the armor guarding Optimus’ spark chamber, Ratchet finally let himself break, dissolving into soft but not-quite-silent sobs.

“I know sometimes you don’t understand the choices I make,” Optimus murmured, stroking the back of his friend’s neck cables soothingly. “But understand this: in every choice I make, I always consider the greater good.”

“How c-can the greater good come from cutting us off from our home?!”

“We have come to call Earth our home,” Optimus reminded him gently.

“I haven’t!”

“I know,” Optimus repeated, even quieter.

Ratchet seemed to shrink at the words, practically retching when he tried to calm his vents. Optimus carefully pried him off and sat him down on a nearby crate, crouching in front of him like a Carrier ready to inspect their sparkling’s dented knee-plate.

“Now,” Optimus continued, “I need you to trust me.”

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Ratchet answered dejectedly.

“You always have a choice,” Optimus told him firmly. “You made the choice to follow me and...” He paused. “...you can make the choice to break away if you wish.”

Ratchet slumped against the wall with a deep sigh, the hot air from his vents fogging Optimus’ cheeks. “Psh. That wouldn’t be too difficult,” he said flatly. “After the way I defied you out there, I don’t think anyone would miss me.”

“That’s not what you think,” Optimus countered. “That’s how you _feel_. And I’ll have you know that I would lose part of myself if I lost you.”

Ratchet straightened slightly, his EM field radiating pain. “I’ve lost part of myself now that the Lock is gone. It was a _big_ part, Optimus.”

“And I’m proud of you for admitting it,” Optimus answered, pushing comfort and understanding through his own field. Ratchet ducked his head again, but Optimus reached out and brought it back up just as quickly. “Don’t. You’re stronger than that, old friend. You’re stronger than me.”

“No, I’m not—”

“Yes, you are. You have sacrificed your home, your freedom, your spark... _everything_ in silence all these years simply because you’ve wanted the best for us. That thought makes _me_ strong,” Optimus declared fervently. “That’s why I have always aspired to be like you.”

Ratchet gaped at him for fifteen long seconds before he stammered, “What? B-But you’re a Prime! I’m...nothing! If anything, I should try to be like you! _Everyone_ tries to be like you!”

Optimus chuckled slightly. “ _I_ don’t have that luxury, so I look to the one who has given and become everything to me.”

Ratchet’s smile was thin but still there. “I...don’t hate you, Optimus. I could never hate you or leave you. That’s the one sacrifice I won’t make.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” the Prime responded.

“Optimus!” Arcee called, hurrying toward them. “Agent Fowler is on the comm. He says we need to go up top.”

Optimus and Ratchet sobered as they rose to their feet. “There is likely to be a battle,” Optimus mused. He glanced at the medic. “One more 'everything', Ratchet?”

Ratchet nudged him sternly. “ _One_ more. Just one, mind you, and you’d better make it up to me by surviving.”


End file.
